The Canadian Respiratory Research Network Long COVID-19 Study

COVID-19 is a deadly and infectious lung disease that has infected almost a million Canadians, approximately 93% of whom recovered without need for hospitalization. Preliminary studies suggest that COVID causes long term lung damage, even in young, otherwise healthy people who did not require hospitalization. Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is a new disease that is diagnosed when someone has persistent symptoms that persist beyond 12 weeks that cannot be attributed to an alternate diagnosis. We are a group of respiratory researchers, patients, health care workers, non-profits and others who want to gain a better understand of lung PASC. We want to learn how often it occurs, who gets it, what kind of damage is in the lungs, if it resolves and, if so, how quickly, and why are some people affected and others not. We plan to study a large national representative sample of people with COVID-19-some who needed hospitalization but most who did not. Through telephone questionnaires, we will determine how many have long term sequelae of COVID-19 at six months. Then we will invite random patients with and without lung PASC to one of our Canadian testing centres where we will compare the results of detailed breathings tests, 3 dimensional x-rays and bloodwork to understand how the virus affects lungs. We will further do immunological and inflammatory testing to understand why some people suffered lung damage and others did not. The information we gain will help patients, healthcare providers and decision makers understand how and why COVID affects the lungs and how it should be managed. It will also reveal how different COVID variants affect the lungs. We will use this new knowledge to write a formal guide on what respiratory monitoring, testing and management is needed after COVID-19 infection. This will ensure that people affected by COVID get the care they need to maintain lung health, which avoiding unnecessary testing and burden on the health care system.